The Fling

40

"Look at that amazing view!" I told my girlfriend as we drove up the coast on a gorgeous Tuesday morning. We were headed to Santa Barbara to shop and eat tacos at some hole-in-the wall taqueria one of my friends raved about. Tonight we were staying over at the famous Rosewood Miramar Beach hotel after a late dinner in their Michelin star restaurant. All this was possible because the two younger kids were with Bert's parents for an overnight visit. It was the first time they were staying with their grandparents since Bertie broke his arm, and it was obvious Abigail was anxious about traveling a few hours from home. "How are you feeling, honey?"

"I'm good," she said with a forced smile. Then she opened her phone for the tenth time to see if anyone had texted or called and she'd somehow missed it, which seemed impossible since it was in her hands.

"If you're not going to enjoy the trip, we should turn around and go back to my place. We can have a very satisfying twenty-four hours there, and you won't be so anxious." I waggled my eyebrows suggestively, just in case she missed my point.

She sighed. "I'm sorry I am a bit off, but once we get there and I am distracted, I should relax."

"The odds of anything happening again are slim. You told Bertie at least fifty times not to run down the deck stairs on the drive to their house."

"Gina and Bertram might wrap them both in bubble wrap," she laughed. "Did you notice that they seemed nervous?"

"Mostly they looked happy to have the kiddos. It was good of them to take Cosmo, too."

"It's too bad Lizzie couldn't go, but hopefully she's having a nice time with her mom. She's one reason I keep checking my phone. I told her to message me if she needs to talk."

Lizzie's mother had been absent since she'd canceled on the birthday party, but then out of the blue, she called Bert to say she wanted her allocated week of visitation. Bert, to his credit, left the decision up to his daughter, who said she'd go for three days since that's all she wanted to take off from her job.

"Shit! That reminds me!" I handed Abigail my phone after opening it. "She sent me a playlist the other day, and I told her we'd listen on the road. Can you go into my IG messages and find it?"

"It's cute that you two have this bond over music." She found the playlist and started it. "Does she ever message you about other stuff?"

"You can read our entire conversation. It's right there."

Abigail closed my phone. "It's none of my business, and I know you'd tell me if she sent anything concerning. She's been very up and down emotionally this summer, which has me worried."

"Do you think she's uncomfortable with our relationship?"

"Nope. She's probably just being a normal seventeen year old who is worried about friends, dating, college, and all that. I'm extra sensitive to the kids' moods these days because of therapy."

I placed my right hand on her bare knee. "You know I'm here if you want to talk about it."

"We've only had a few sessions so there's not much to share. Bertie is still in the 'getting comfortable' phase and Hannah insists she's happy about everything. The most valuable part is when I talk to the therapist alone afterwards and she interprets what they've said."

"Therapy takes time."

"Yep, and I'm committed to the long haul. In the meantime, I can handle how they're responding to everything. Hannah wasn't happy about bringing a nighttime diaper for tonight's sleepover, but we had a long talk about how her problem is normal and that it won't last forever. I told Bertie that it's okay to wake Nanny or Gramps up if he has a nightmare and that they will know how to help him. We also went over the warning signs of throwing up so that he can maybe make it to the toilet."